tally’s blood

• “twelve years i’ve been married - and nothing. me an italian as well“

  • family relationships
  • rossinellas regret of her lack of children
  • discussing bridget’s large family
• “let them take what the like, waste what they like,so long as they leave you alone”

  • family relationships
  • scots mob attacks massimo‘s shop
  • willing to sacrifice life’s work for the safety of his family
• “i was pregnant and it was francos baby“

  • family relationships
  • bridget tells rosinella she was pregnant with francos child
  • she gave it up because of her cruel words and francos death
  • a baby is a long term commitment to family and love
• “italian’s are good for this country. who else is prepared to work to eleven o’clock every night“

  • work ethnic
  • massing mentions to rosinella hes worried about italy coming into the war
  • rosinella isn’t worried
  • she feels italians are doing scotland good
  • she feels their the most dedicated workers
  • shows they value a good work ethic
• “you know the first thing he says to me“who’s minding the bloody shop?“

  • work ethic, war
  • massing and father taken away from homes by war officers
  • process of getting kicked out their country
  • still concerned about shops
  • shows they highly value their work work as their are much more pressing matters
• “she’s no lazy she’s just no used to work”

  • worth ethic
  • lucia is forced to work in italy
  • luigi tells her he has argued with his mother about how hard she works
  • shows that to him it’s important for lucia to have a good work ethic
• “works hard?”

  • when massimo tells luigi all about lucia
  • he’s only concerned with how hard she works
  • this shows he finds a good work ethic important
• ”we cannie let that wee german bastard through his weight around“

  • franco and massing discuss possibility of war
  • franco doesn’t share massimos dread of it
  • he like many young men were willing and eager to fight
  • shows how people felt about war, some dread some wanted to fight
• “but it’s got nothing to do with us massimo. we’re italian, we just live here. it’s not our country“

  • war
  • when war with germany is announced on radio
  • massimo finds it tragic
  • rosiness finds its nine do their business
  • shows the nationality struggles of war
• “they saw the planes lighting up the sky.they heard the buildings falling and crashing down, and they didn’t know if our house was still there“

  • war
  • luigi explains to massimo what his family saw during the war
  • its effects on italy
  • shows the destructive effects of war
• “he says he never wanted to be separate from her all these years but with the war“

  • war
  • massimo reads to lucia luigi’s letter about wanting her to go back to italy
  • blames the war for not being able to look after her
  • showing effect of war on families, it separates them
• “jumped up wee piece of nothing, thinks because he works here he can look at you. him?”

  • racial prejudice
  • rossinella snatches lucia’s love letter from hughie
  • tells her she won’t be seeing him
  • she implied that she feels lucia is worth more than hughie who she feels worth very little
  • shows racism towards scot’s
• “get the bastards. waste the place. facist pigs. greasy tallies“

  • racial prejudice
  • scot’s were angry italian were on different side
  • lores and destroyed many italian shops, including massimos
  • shows their prejudice as they believed all italians were against them and were horrible to them( use of slurs)
• “oh aye, ‘lucia ,lucia‘ you love her that much you don’t want her to love anyone else“